Subplots and ballpark figures from Sunday’s 24-17 New England Patriots victory over Minnesota:

• While most of the post-game discussions and analysis dissected the Vikings’ comeback from a 21-0 deficit, little was made of the exasperating inconsistency of the offense, and the fact that Tom Brady’s unit collected only a single field goal in the final 32 minutes of the game. That display of ineptitude was particularly baffling because of the fact that Minnesota came in with the 29th-ranked defense in the league, and was supposedly no match for the vaunted Patriots’ offensive juggernaut. The Vikings’ young defense was torched early, as New England scored on its first three possessions to jump out to a comfortable three-TD lead. Visions of resting the starters in advance of Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day tilt in Detroit began to take shape, as back-up QB Damon Huard and the rest of the second- and third-stringers looked forward to some long-awaited playing time. Instead, the play-calling got cocky, the focus became lax, and the overall attitude got to a point where the Patriots believed themselves to be so superior — and the Vikings continued to make the mistakes that have plagued them all season long — that mentally they were already on the flight out to Motown.

• Understand this: the Vikings had lost 15 straight road games coming in. Despite a fluke victory over the now-struggling Packers last week, the Vikings had lost at home to Buffalo, Carolina, and the Giants, along with road losses at the Jets, Seahawks, and Bears. They are playing a relatively easy schedule yet were still 3-8 entering Sunday’s game. By the time they left frigid Foxborough, the Vikes were minus-22 in the turnover ratio, and have been outscored 72-30 in first quarter this season.

Yet here Minnesota was, falling on the road by only seven points to the defending Super Bowl champions despite coughing up four fumbles, losing their starting running back to injury in the fourth quarter, and gaining 417 yards in total offense while holding the hosts to just 299. Here was a 3-8 team with one of the worst defenses in the NFL holding the champs to just a field goal the entire second half. How could this be?

Complacency on the part of New England, that’s how. Exhibit A: the Pats dropped at least six passes in the second half, two by rookie receiver Donald Graham, plus a sure-fire interception dropped by safety Victor Green late in the contest. Exhibit B: late in the second quarter, with a three-touchdown lead already in hand, the Patriots elected to go for it on fourth and 10 from the Minnesota 31. Instead of pinning the Vikes deep via a punt and heading to the warm clubhouse with a nice lead (or even opting for a field-goal opp into a stiff wind), the Pats went for it and saw Brady instead get sacked. With that extra opportunity, Minnesota then implemented a no-huddle offense and marched down the field, capping a five-play, 61-yard drive with its first TD of the day with just 19 seconds left before the break. Exhibit C: despite successfully running-screen passes all day long against Buffalo and Chicago in recent weeks, the Patriots only ran a handful Sunday. And even when the Pats connected on back-to-back screens in the fourth quarter that gained them 26 and 27 yards respectively, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis then proceeded to call three straight running plays for a combined total of just three yards, and the team had to settle for its only points of the half, a 34-yard-Adam Vinatieri field goal with 11:09 remaining.

• Imagine that Minnesota does not commit three first-half turnovers and numerous idiotic penalties; imagine that New England does not recover all three of its own fumbles and does not get Antowain Smith’s first-quarter fumble call overturned on instant replay? Imagine that the overworked New England defense had not stood on its collective head to keep the potent Vikings offense of the board in the final 14 minutes? Imagine the result: unimaginable. This was a game that very easily could have been lost, and one that would have been a devastating blow to New England’s efforts to even return to the playoffs. While Will McDonough’s Sunday Boston Globe column noted how the Patriots had apparently finally come around to realizing that their season was on the line, and that they would need to play with a greater sense of urgency the rest of the way, the New England offense again played down to the level of its opponent (as it did earlier this season in the KC and Chicago games) for two and a half quarters, and nearly let a certain win get away.

• Thursday’s game in Detroit: while most of the discussion will center on the short week, and the ability of New England to prepare for the annual Thanksgiving Day tilt at brand-new Ford Field, it’s easy to forget that the Lions also must make the same hurried game preparations. And the only advantage that Detroit should have on this day is the home-field advantage, because the Lions are pretty much as bad as, or worse than, the Vikings or Bears (oops — not necessarily such a good thing, is it?). Detroit is 3-8 overall; it’s 0-6 on the road and is starting a rookie quarterback in Joey Harrington. On paper, time or no time, Bill Belichick should be able to prepare a defensive scheme to confound the young QB and his 29th-ranked offense, and the Patriots offense should be able to run rings around the NFL’s 28th-ranked defense. And if New England can’t get up for a nationally televised game where everybody and their Uncle Ignatius will be watching the defending champs in their retro "Pat Patriot" uniforms, not to mention the prospect of improving to 7-5 with just one road game remaining, then this team doesn’t deserve its fans’ unswerving backing, much less a playoff berth.

And while the Lions are a little feistier than the Vikings, the fact is that Detroit lost by three touchdowns to Miami and Carolina earlier this season, and its only meaningful victories have been home wins against New Orleans and Dallas, two teams that have proved themselves to be remarkably ordinary lately. Even worse, the Lions just dropped a heartbreaker on the road to Chicago this past Sunday in a game where they accomplished the following: blew a 10-point lead in the last two and a half minutes; won the coin flip to open overtime, yet decided to take the wind and surrender the ball; watched helplessly as one-armed QB Jim Miller immediately drove the Bears to the Lions’ 23, culminating in a game-winning 40-yard field goal. If New England loses at Detroit on Thursday, even with a short week of preparation, it will, and should, feel humiliated, especially since a loss to a bottom-feeder like the Lions would pretty much make the balance of the remaining schedule an afterthought.

• The balance of the remaining schedule: we’ve mentioned the short week of preparation that the Patriots face this week. Yet let’s face it: if you’re stuck with just two days with which to get ready for an opponent, it might as well be for a Detroit-caliber team. And don’t forget: after the face-off at Ford, the Patriots can sit back and relax for the next nine days before meeting the Buffalo Bills back home in game #13. The Bills have not been the same since getting throttled by the Pats in Orchard Park three weeks ago, and have dropped road games to the Chiefs and Jets since then. With another emotional game coming up this coming Sunday against first-place Miami — a home game that Drew Bledsoe & Co. know they need to remain in the playoff hunt — Buffalo (5-6) will undoubtedly be mentally drained coming into Gillette Stadium next weekend. And don’t forget the potential of the Bills wearing a four-game losing streak when they face this rested bunch of Patriots, a bunch eager to put another hurtin’ on their old pal Drew, although this time on their home turf.

• If this thing plays out as it should, 8-5 New England would take a three-game win streak of its own into a Monday-night game at Tennessee three weeks hence. The Titans saw their five-game unbeaten streak end Sunday with a road loss at Baltimore, and the 6-5 Titans will travel to the Meadowlands for a physical game with the Giants next week, then host red-hot Indy the following week. That MNF tilt with the Pats a week later will undoubtedly be do-or-die for both teams, and could very likely eliminate one of these teams from playoff consideration. New England will finish its regular season with home games against the Jets (no longer a sure thing with the emergence of back-up QB Chad Pennington leading New York on a four-game win streak) and the division-leading Dolphins.

One thing we do know: the aura surrounding this 6-5 Patriots team is distinctly different from the 6-5 team from last season that didn’t lose a game thereafter. Could history repeat itself? The remaining schedule isn’t exactly foreboding, but it’s not a cakewalk, either. If not for the maddening inconsistency that this team exhibits from week to week, it would be fashionable to think that the New England Patriots have the weapons to run the table again — although that’s probably what Rams fans thought, too, heading into this year.

For New England’s fortunes the rest of the way, it’ll depend on the nature of the feast — and beast — on Thursday.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Though there will be no Friday column this week, Sporting Eye traditionally runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com